A year-by-year,
film-by-film history of 70-millimeter wide gauge exhibition in Orange
County, California

Compiled by
Michael Coate and William Kallay

70mm Equipped Theatre Pictures

Cinemaland

Theatre
Specifications

Chains: National
General /
Mann

Opened: April 10,
1968

Remodeled:
Auditorium split into three separate auditoriums; Re-opened in
late-1974

Closed: Last show
was on June 5, 1979 / Re-opened occasionally during the 1980s for special
screenings / Closed permanently by 1986

Seats: 1180 (before
split)

The last major luxury theatre built in Anaheim
was National General’s Cinemaland Theatre. Sitting across from
Disneyland on Harbor Blvd.,
Cinemaland opened on April 10, 1968 with “Far From The Madding
Crowd.” Simple in design, the boxy exterior hid a somewhat ornate
lobby and large auditorium with 1180 seats. In fact, the theatre
was considered so luxurious that Mann Theatres, who eventually took
it over, used it as their flagship theatre in Orange
County.

The lobby of the
Cinemaland had a snack bar that was built in the middle of the room
behind the box office. A large chandelier hung from the middle of
the ceiling. Moviegoers would then head to the auditorium through
one of four doors.

The women’s
restroom harkened back to the days of old-fashioned “powder rooms”
of theatres past. Ladies could lounge in a rest area, or “powder”
their noses in front of large mirrors, ‘60s-style.

According to
professional projectionist and movie theatre historian, Bill Gabel,
the theatre was equipped with a “Norelco 70/35mm projection package
and 6-Track Stereo Sound system.”

Cinemaland held a
few 70mm presentations in its fairly brief life, including a
reserved-seat engagement of “Tora! Tora! Tora!” But by late-1974,
the theatre’s once magnificent auditorium was tri-plexed.

The manager of the
Cinemaland, Harold Birslin, said in a newspaper article (source
unspecified through the clipping), “We opened with ‘Far From The
Madding Crowd’ and for six years, down through the world premiere of
‘Herbie [Rides Again]’ and our closing attraction, we brought the
best movies available to Orange County. Now we will be able to
present three times as many, giving our patrons the convenience of
much greater choice.” The theatre closed on September 10, 1974 for
renovation.

The result of the
theatre split was perhaps one of the worst “hack” jobs ever seen in
the theatre business. This once beautiful, modern theatre was
turned into a haphazard mess. The front rows of the auditorium were
turned into a long theatre running horizontal to the original
layout. What was left of the original auditorium was split into two
separate screens. The auditorium on the left side, closest to the
lobby, was the larger of the two. It still ran 70mm through 1976.

The theater didn’t
survive for much longer. By the early ‘80s, the theatre was closed,
except for brief times when it was re-opened for an animation film
festival, and then a foreign film festival held sometime in the
late-‘80s. The theatre sat dormant for years, though there were
plans to turn it into a television studio tourist attraction. Those
plans fell through and the theatre was razed in early 1998 for a
parking lot and bus stop.